After three weeks, Sisson skated across the Mississippi river, and a week later, he reached Kansas, according to his mother, Ellen Sisson. Sisson, who was stopped in Witchita, Kan. during his interview with The Dartmouth, said he hopes to finish his trip by early September, but has until Sept. 24, when he returns to Hanover to take classes, to complete the journey.
"We'll see when the terrain gets a little tougher out there," he said. "Maybe that will make me go a little bit faster."
News coverage of Sisson's trip has increased substantially as he has traveled farther along his route.
"I just kind of started running into people," he said. "I skated by a newspaper office that stepped outside and stopped me. A TV car drove by me once and did an on-the-spot TV interview."
So far, he has raised $3,000 for Action Against Hunger, he said, adding that he hopes to raise a total of $5,000 by the end of the summer.
"After a TV spot ran in Missouri, Jack stopped at a gas station and people recognized him and just gave him money for Action Against Hunger on the spot," his mother said. "He hasn't been actively [asking for donations], but many just feel moved to contribute to his cause."
Sisson tries to skate six days per week, traveling an average of 50 miles a day, he said, though he has had a high of 85 miles and a low of 30 miles a day over the course of his cross-country trip.
At night, Sisson stays at local churches, motels or with friends and family. Ellen Sisson has also contacted some of the Dartmouth club presidents of towns along his route, so he occasionally stays with some Dartmouth alumni, she said.
Sisson, a native of New Canaan, Conn., said he has known he wanted to take this trip for about two years, adding that hearing of his friends' summer experiences with Bike and Build, a cross-country cycling trip to raise funds and promote awareness about national poverty, made the trek seem more possible.
Initially, Ellen Sisson was not enthusiastic about her son's idea, but later realized he had put a considerable amount of forethought into its planning.
"I tried to point out all the problems with it, but it became clear that this was something he was so passionate about," she said. "I decided my role was to point out how he could do it safely and maximize the experience."
Sisson uses cycling maps and state maps to plan his route, his mother said, and has stops lined up along the way with food, water and lodging. He has maps, wheels and bearings shipped to future stops to minimize the weight he carries, she added.
"I carry a hiking backpack," Jack Sisson said. "It has a tent, sleeping pad, emergency blanket, one change of clothes. I've also got some electronic stuff like a GPS tracker."
Along the way, Sisson has had to change some plans, his mother said. After traveling 45 minutes on a bumpy colonial parkway in Virginia, for example, Sisson had to rotate the wheels on his skates and knew that he would need to find routes that bypass rocky roads, Ellen Sisson said.
"He's been going on more major roads using the shoulder because it's smoother and less hilly," she said.
Sisson began training for the trip in March, skating up and down hills in Hanover, his mother said. He also did a trial run with another Dartmouth student over spring break in Florida, she added, and spoke with people at Dartmouth Emergency Medical Services before he began.
